PVD Coating

Physical Vapor Deposition

In the mid 1800's a scientist named Faraday evaporated thin films in a vacuum when he exploded wires in his laboratory. It was not until the late 1800's that the first films would be deposited in a vacuum by Nahrwold. This was the beginning of the vacuum deposition method that we now call PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) coating. The application of this technology remained primarily academic until the post World War II era. The branch of PVD coating technology called ion plating was not developed until 1963 by Donald Mattox.

The PVD technology consists of three primary deposition methods, evaporation, sputtering and cathodic arc. The PVD coating process is an environmentally friendly vacuum coating process that has the abilityto apply various films at various process temperatures. This flexibility allows coatings to be applied to a variety of substrates. To view the coatings currently offered by NCT choose the Coatings option from the menu. Components manufactured from plastic to steel have been successfully coated using the PVD coating process. Application reports and various application areas for PVD coating can be found by choosing the Applications option from the menu.

Ion plating is a branch of PVD coating. The ion plating process ionizes the material being evaporated. This ionization greatly enhances the properties and adhesion of the film being applied. For more detailed information about the PVD coating process and ion plating, choose the Coating Process option from the menu.

The PVD coating process is often times confused with the CVD (Chemical Vapor Deposition) process. The CVD process is a thermal deposition process rather than a physical deposition process.